PinkNews Awards 2018: Here are the nominees for Community Group of the year

Oct 09 2018
Written by Ellen Stewart

The PinkNews Community Group Award, sponsored by JustGiving, seeks to highlight outstanding effort of LGBT-specific charities/non-profit organisations and award their commitment and contribution to the community.

In 2017 Just Like Us picked up the award.

For 2018, a group of judges will be drafted in to whittle down the shortlist and pick a winner.

The PinkNews Awards 2018 will take place in London on October 17.

See below for the shortlist of nominees:

Albert Kennedy Trust

(Albert Kennedy Trust)

“No young person should have to choose between a safe home and being who they are.”

24% of young people at risk of homelessness identity as LGBTQ+; 77 percent of whom have experienced abuse and rejection at home for being brave enough to come out to their families. The Albert Kennedy Trust are the UK’s LGBTQ+ youth homelessness charity: providing safe homes, mentoring, training, advocacy and support to young LGBTQ+people who are homeless or living in a hostile environment after coming out to their parents, care givers and peers.

Research carried out by AKT has shown that LGBTQ+ young people are more likely to find themselves homeless than their non LGBTQ+ peers, comprising up to 24 percent (1 in 4) of the youth homeless population in the UK; and that LGBTQ+ homeless youth are highly likely to have experienced familial rejection, abuse and violence. Last year AKT provided 6,075 nights of safe accommodation; 82 percent of young LGBTQ+ people were supported into safe homes; and 91 percent believed their lives improved after receiving support from AKT.

You can find out more about the work and impact of AKT here.

Cara-Friend

(Cara-Friend)

Cara-Friend is dedicated to supporting, empowering, educating, and offering friendship to everyone in the LGBT community.

It is one of the most encompassing organisations in Northern Ireland, bringing together all ages, genders, and sexual orientations. It provides counselling, befriending, information, support services, trainings, and advocacy work.

This year Cara-Friend has experienced fantastic growth within its LGBTQ+ inclusive schools programme, where the numbers of student receiving ‘shout out’ workshop has grown from 962 in 2016/2017 to 2935 in 2017/2018, and the number of teachers receiving LGBTQ+ training has increased from 58 to 873.

Additionally, this year Cara-Friend brought the first-ever LGBT History festival to Belfast, as part of LGBT History Month in February 2018, which was a great success and will be returning next year.

Just Like Us

(Just Like Us)

Just Like Us is working for a world where LGBT+ young people live awesome. Why? Because growing up LGBT+ is still unacceptably tough: 25 percent attempt suicide, 50 percent self-harm and 86 percent still hear homophobic remarks.

To change this, Just Like Us empowers young people to be role models, championing LGBT+ equality at school and work. Just Like Us Ambassadors—young, relatable role models—have worked with over 30,000 school pupils in talks and workshops that tackle bullying and challenge prejudice.

Just Like Us’ national initiative, School Diversity Week, involved over 600,000 pupils and teachers in almost 350 constituencies in organising events that celebrate LGBT+ equality in education.

You can find out more here.

The Rainbow Project

(The Rainbow Project)

The Rainbow Project is a health organisation in Northern Ireland that works to improve the mental and physical health of members of the LGBT+ community.

The organisation is committed to the prevention of HIV and STI transmission and the health needs of LGBT+ individuals by providing services such as sexual health screenings, counselling services, family support, advocacy services for victims of violence and discrimination, and information on adopting and fostering.

This year, Rainbow Project has intensified its calls for same-sex marriage to be legalised in Northern Ireland, in its role as member of the umbrella organisation Love Equality that lobbies for equal marriage officially.

July’s Pride fundraiser raised over £20,000 for the Rainbow Project to fund healthcare projects for LGBT+ people. The Rainbow Project also received an outpouring of community support after its offices were burgled weeks before Belfast Pride.

You can discover more here.

Time for Inclusive Education (TIE)

(TIE)

Time for Inclusive Education (TIE) is a national campaign group dedicated to addressing LGBT+ visibility issues within Scottish education and combating homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia.

TIE has had many successes since its launch in 2015, including gaining the support of Scotland’s teachers’ unions and all STUC affiliated trade unions. It also now has the support of the Scottish Parliament and is working with the Scottish Government to work towards an inclusive school system.

The organisation offers free services including school assemblies, teacher training, workplace seminars, and informational resources on its website. TIE has been endorsed by many political parties and local and national organisations, including Glasgow City Council and Women for Independence.

The organisation’s plan includes a pledge proposing actions including introducing legislation, training teachers, ensuring curriculum inclusion, recording bullying, and monitoring steps taken towards inclusion. As of 2017, a majority of MSPs have signed the pledge and as of 2018 a majority of Scottish MPs have signed the pledge.